The Senate voted to consider Harry Reid’s healthcare bill on Saturday night.
We must say, first of all, that there’s no need to panic. Keep in mind . . .
* The Senate did NOT pass the bill, it only agreed to end a filibuster that prevented the bill from being considered.
* There will be a debate and a consideration of amendments to the bill after Thanksgiving
* There will be another filibuster to prevent final passage of the bill, and breaking a filibuster requires 60 votes, which means . . .
* Final passage of the bill still requires 60 votes
That said, we are angry that this bill is moving forward. We must respond to this vote as we responded to the passage in the House of Pelosi’s healthcare bill two weeks ago . . .
* Thank the 39 Senators who voted against consideration of Reid’s healthcare bill
* Spank the 60 Senators who voted for it
* Copy your Representatives on these messages so they’ll be reminded of where you stand
We believe it is especially important for citizens to “spank” Senators who expressed opposition to the bill because of the public option, yet voted to consider it anyway. These include most prominently:
* Bill Nelson (NE)
* Blanche Lincoln(AR)
* Mary Landrieu (LA)
* Joe Lieberman (CT)
If your two Senators voted in opposite directions, you can say something like this: “I thank Senator X for voting against cloture on Senator Reid’s terrible healthcare bill, and I am very disappointed that Senator Y voted to move forward with it.”
Because there are lots of combinations of Senators, where one voted for, another against, or both voted the same, we can’t offer a one-size-fits-all letter today. So, here’s a generic letter with talking points you may want to use in your own letter . . . Read More »
The opening clip of Saturday Night Live last night featured a rather thorough dressing down of Obama. I had to kept checking the channel to make sure it wasn’t the Glenn Beck show I was watching.
The clip is below. Obama gets hammered on bailouts, cash for clunkers, and “spending money to make money”. In this clip it is the Chinese that are getting it “good and hard” as H.L. Mencken once said regarding the common people within a democracy. I hope we see more of this from SNL.
My comments as those masters of disaster, the U.S. Congress, create a horrible bill, the Financial Stability Improvement Act of 2009, and on the fate of Ron Paul’s Audit the FED bill, HR 1207.
WASHINGTON, DC - Yesterday Congressman Ron Paul’s bill to complete a full audit of the Federal Reserve for the first time in 96-year history has narrowly avoided total defeat. The Federal Reserve is a quasi-private banking cartel owned by the banks with its Chairman nominated by the President that controls interest rates and the money supply. HR 1207, a very short 342-word bill, has a majority in the House with 313 co-sponsors. Its companion bill in the Senate, S 604, has 30 co-sponsors. HR 1207 has been blocked from a full House voteby the Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, Barney Frank.
Instead Paul and Congressman Alan Grayson successfully added in the FED audit as amendment 69B to Frank’s monstrous HR 3996, the Financial Stability Improvement Act of 2009. (Draft text here and PDFbelow.) While Frank proclaims the bill supposedly protects the taxpayer from bailing out Wall Street, the truth is Congress intends to grant the Federal Reserve even more powers to mishandle and crash the economy as they did with their money-printing, excess credit, and low interests rates to cause the last bubbles, residential and commercial real estate, to form and then collapse.
Possibly the worst part of the bill is what I term the “Emergency Bailout Authorization,” or per Section 1109, officially known as the Emergency Financial Stabilization. Read More »
WE’RE SENDING A SECOND DOWNSIZER-DISPATCH TODAY BECAUSE the healthcare bill needs 60 votes in the Senate TOMORROW in order to move forward. We must do everything we can, RIGHT NOW, to make sure it gets 59 votes or less.
If your Senator is on the list below, please call and tell him or her to VOTE NO ON CLOTURE FOR THE HEALTHCARE BILL.
There may not be any chances left to protest, so please take time for this extra action if at all possible. Your letter can be very simple. Here’s what I just wrote:
I want the healthcare bill defeated. Oppose cloture. Remember, everything you do relies on force. I do not want to be forced to pay for or submit to the healthcare bill.
On top of that, here’s a list of the highest priority Senators that must get as many calls as possible. The American Association of Physicians and Surgeons (aapsonline.org) reports that these Senators are still undecided on how to vote. Let’s try to influence their decision: Read More »
During President Obama’s high profile visit to China this week, the most frequently discussed, yet least understood, topic was how currency valuations are affecting the economic relationship between the United States and China. The focal problem is the Chinese government’s policy of fixing the value of the renminbi against the U.S. dollar. While many correctly perceive that this ‘peg’ has contributed greatly to the current global imbalances, few fully comprehend the ramifications should that peg be discarded.The common understanding is both incomplete and naive. Most analysts simply see the peg as China’s principal weapon in an economic struggle for global ascendancy. The peg, they argue, offers China a competitive advantage by making its products cheaper in U.S. markets, thus allowing Chinese firms to gobble up market share and steal jobs from U.S. manufacturers. The thought is that were China to allow its currency to rise, American manufactures would regain their lost edge, and both manufacturing firms and the jobs formerly associated with them would return. In this narrative, the struggle centers on the United States’ diminishing leverage in persuading the Chinese to lay down their unfair weaponry. It’s a sympathetic picture, but it tells the wrong story.
While the peg certainly is responsible for much of the world’s problems, its abandonment would cause severe hardship in the United States. In fact, for the U.S., de-pegging would cause the economic equivalent of cardiac arrest. Our economy is currently on life support provided by an endless flow of debt financing from China. These purchases are the means by which China maintains the relative value of its currency against the dollar. As the dollar comes under even more downward pressure, China’s purchases must increase to keep the renminbi from rising. By maintaining the peg, China enables our politicians and citizens to continue spending more than they have and avoiding the hard choices necessary to restore our long-term economic health. Read More »
Health insurance is cheap in some states. In others it costs as much as the lease on a Ferrari. This isn’t because of any flaw in the free market. It’s because we don’t have a free market! What we have instead are laws that reward corporate welfare benefits to special interests and insurance companies.
Use the Ferrari example in my sample letter to make your case . . .
The average medical plan in New Jersey costs $37,164 per year. The monthly premiums exceed the lease for a Ferrari!
By comparison, Indiana has far fewer corporate welfare mandates dictating what health insurance must cover. People in that state can choose between 43 plans costing less than $5,400 annually!
If the New Jersey family could buy medical insurance from an Indiana provider, they’d save over $31,000 a year!
Extend this to the entire country and the results would be dramatic.
While Republican Bush II once famously claimed he was “the decider,” the ‘Change We Can Believe In’ promised by his replacement, the Democrat Obama, is hardly any different in regards to the Afghanistan and Pakistan wars. The media and American people breathlessly await the President’s decision on how many troops to send into the war zone. With spines made of jelly, Congress is as toothless as a bunch of newborns as they delegate their responsibilities to represent the American people to a single man. What could they ‘Change’ instead?
Congress could refuse to approve spending to extend this unconstitutional war of aggression against Afghanistan and Pakistan. Congress should instead pass a resolution for a rapid, immediate, and orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan and redeployment to protect America’s sieve-like borders. Congress could increase the reward for the capture of Osama Bin Laden forty times from $27 million to over $1 billion. Congress should also issue constitutional letters of marque to bring indicted terrorists to justice in a court of law.
To support this stance, I offer the following four key points: First, elected officials must begin behaving like the United States is a nation of laws, not a collection of rogues who delegate their gravest responsibility and immaturely fail to follow the supreme law of the land and declare war. Second, America’s historical foreign policy actions in Afghanistan and Pakistan must be understood, which contain the true reasons why terrorists attacked the United States in 2001. Third, a sober look at the eco-politics of the area, such as opiates and oil pipelines, must be taken. Lastly, we should contain the problem by securing our borders, and with all of the economic unrest, now is no time to be nation-building and quartering troops in foreign lands. Read More »
by John Browne – Senior Market Strategist, Euro Pacific Capital
The U.S. economy is in uncertain times. Analysts are split between those seeing recovery and those fearing a second downturn. This confusion is being echoed in the highest levels of government as President Obama simultaneously speaks about the need for more federal spending and warns of the dangers of increased debt. As the volatile markets indicate, investors are not only confused – they are seriously concerned.
The country appears to be going through a period of buyer’s remorse over the election of Barack Obama. The majority cobbled together by the President one year ago included the Democratic base, independents hoping for “change,” and many disaffected Republicans betrayed by the Bush Administration’s big-government neoconservatism. It is unlikely that most of these voters favored an overt push toward socialism; however, this is what they have received. As the ‘tea parties’ illustrate, voters are not only confused – they are seriously concerned.
Does the Constitution allow Congress to force you to buy health insurance? Several Congressional leaders have been asked, by CNSNews.com in particular. Their responses ranged from ignorant to arrogant to contemptuous.
The politicians’ ignorant, arrogant, and contemptuous answers underscore the need for the Enumerated Powers Act (EPA). EPA would force Congress to demonstrate its Constitutional authority for each bill it passes. Over the past four weeks the Enumerated Powers Act has . . .
Liberty Maven
Instead Paul and Congressman Alan Grayson successfully added in the FED audit as 
by Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital and author of 
by John Browne – Senior Market Strategist, Euro Pacific Capital
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